Snakes and Sharks
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: When he was ten years old, he'd caused a glass window to disappear at a zoo, allowing a snake to escape. Now, seventeen years later, he was getting a bit of deja vu in regards to that incident.


_A/N_

 _Should specify that this is based on context from the trailer for_ Aquaman _, but potentially it could apply to any version._

 _Update (11/01/19): Corrected "No. 8" to "No. 4."_

* * *

 **Snakes and Sharks**

Harry could barely remember the last time he'd been in an aquarium.

That wasn't to say he couldn't remember at least some details, on the trip that had been his first, and up to this point, only visit to such a place. It had been in London when he was seven or eight – a school trip of course, because aside from Dudley's eleventh birthday, Harry had never been taken along to any of the Dursleys' outings. He remembered seeing fish of all kinds, and having to fill in a questionnaire along the way. Dudley and his gang had made it hard to do (as they always did), what with constantly prodding him, or whispering in his ear, or stealing his glasses. By the end of it, he'd only managed to fill in half of the questions, and it became a moot point when Dudley had pushed him into a rock pool. He'd told an angry Miss Livingstone that he'd fallen in – every school kid knew that you didn't tattle on Dudley Dursley, and you most certainly didn't stand up for Harry Potter if you wanted to keep your pocket money. The result was a pair of wet clothes, zero marks, and upon returning to No. 4 Privet Drive, zero dinner. Aunt Petunia wasn't happy about him "lying" about her perfect little boy, not to mention the drenched clothes.

So, no. He didn't remember all the details, but he remembered some. And now, thirty-eight years old, and an auror for the Ministry of Magic, he was in an aquarium again. This time safe from any bullies, and if he did have to deal with any of them, well, this time he had a wand. And you didn't become an auror without learning how to use one of those little babies.

"He had to hide here? In this place?"

He glanced at Ackerby, his partner. "Something wrong?"

Ackerby sighed and looked at Harry. "We're in an aquarium."

"Noted."

"Looking for Cruz Crackleback as part of a joint-operation with MACUSA."

"That was the brief."

"An animagus who's turned himself into a shark and is hiding in one of these fish tanks." He gestured at one of the glass barriers that separated the aquarium's visitors from the sea life.

"I can read Ackerby."

"And we're among muggles while doing it."

Harry shrugged. "Say what you will about Crackleback, he's not stupid. Aquarium's going to make this a nightmare.

Ackerby sniffed. "Damn this place stinks."

"Aquariums do that."

"Thinking more about them," Ackerby said, nodding his head towards the crowd.

Harry managed not to frown – he was well aware who "they" were.

"Anyway," Ackerby said, giving Harry a pat on the shoulder. "Don't mind me. Shall we split up?"

Harry nodded. "You see Crackleback, don't move without me."

"Don't worry Potter, I can handle myself." Ackerby winked, gave Harry a pat on the shoulder (more like a thud, Harry reflected), and walked off into the crowd, not even apologizing for a lady he bumped into.

 _Here's to us then,_ Harry reflected. _Can't even enjoy an aquarium on my own._

Could have been worse, he supposed – he could have been assigned to deal with one of the sea serpents plaguing the North Atlantic. Coming to an aquarium in Metropolis was pretty small fry in comparison. And as dangerous as Crackleback was, least he could enjoy the sights and sounds before the salt hit the water.

He entered a large room surrounded on all sides by glass, and beyond that, a lot of fish. Fish that seemed content to just keep swimming – especially the blue ones he noticed. No idea why.

"Pay attention Arthur!"

 _Hmm?_ Harry automatically turned to the source of the voice, thinking of Arthur Weasley. But it wasn't him. Arthur Weasley was on another continent, along with most of the Weasley-Granger families. Who it was, was presumably one of the two dozen children being led by a teacher. All of them had clipboards and pens. At least three quarters of them also had phones. Harry hadn't kept up on the muggle world for two decades, but he'd noticed some changes, and one of them was that muggles apparently loved their phones as much as wizards loved their wands. Heck, even more so.

The teacher began saying something and he tuned out, turning his attention back to the glass. Beyond him swam a shark. Looking around, Harry drew out an animagalizer – a complicated word for a simple device that would alert him to the presence of an animagus. It didn't have a wide range, but it had a 0% error rate, which told Harry that the shark before him wasn't Crackleback.

"Hello," Harry muttered.

The shark didn't even look at him.

"Wonder what you're thinking."

It just kept swimming.

"Well, see you around then."

And still kept swimming.

 _Am I really going insane?_ He put a hand to his forehead – still no pain. Good.

 _This isn't the zoo._

He went to zoos more than aquariums. Or at least, one particular zoo – Percival T. Python at London Zoo always had good stories for him, proving that snakes could sometimes lead interesting lives. Still, sharks weren't snakes. Crackleback wasn't here. But he took a moment to linger. To just take in the sights. None of the creatures here were magic. They weren't sea serpents, or mermaids, or anything like that. Still, the sharks, the fish…they had a majesty and beauty of their own.

"Hello."

He looked to the side – before him was a young boy, seven or eight years old. Nothing unusual there. What _was_ unusual was that the boy was putting a hand against the glass, and a trio of fish were just hovering there. Not swimming. Just staring at him.

"Is that your name?" the boy asked.

Harry blinked. _Is he…_

"Yeah, I don't fit in either."

 _The fish,_ Harry thought dumbly. _He's talking to the fish._

His mind getting into gear, he quickly ran through the two main possibilities. The first, and more likely one, was that the kid was just playing. That the fish weren't really talking to him. The second however, was that the kid really was talking to the fish, that they were talking back, and the kid was a wizard. One with the ability to talk with _fish_.

"Well, it was nice talking to you."

 _Does that make him an…icthyamouth?_

"Hey look, Arthur's talking to the fish."

Harry's eyes narrowed as he saw a pair of kids come up to the one called Arthur. Kids that were much taller, and much taller. Kids who looked and sounded like Dudley.

"What's up Arthur? Fishy friends say they like you?" They shoved him against the glass.

 _And act like Dudley._

"Stop it!" Arthur exclaimed. "You're hurting me!"

"Aw, is little Arthur Curry hurt?" one of them sneered. "Maybe your fish friends can help you."

"Please, guys…"

Harry found himself reaching for his wand. Only through sheer willpower did he resist the urge to not draw it out.

"Let me go!" Arthur exclaimed.

He understood the Statues of Secrecy. He understood that using magic around muggles was a matter of last resort. He knew that Crackleback was a far bigger threat to these muggles than any bully.

"Cry, Arthur, cry!" One of them shoved him. "Get your fish to help."

Arthur whimpered, causing Harry to wince.

 _One hex. Just one hex._

"Let me go!"

He tightened his grip on his wand and-

"The heck?!"

Never drew it out. But he did have the urge to apparate.

One of the sharks had hit the glass – not hard enough to break it, but hard enough to cause some of it to crack. The bullies staggered back, mouths wide open.

 _Did…did that shark help him?_

A number of the muggles screamed, including the teacher who got some of her students away from the glass (or away from Arthur, Harry noticed). A security guard was keeping the muggles away from the wall. A wall where the shark was hanging there, staring at the humans. One shark, now accompanied by two others.

 _Crackleback?_ Harry drew out his animagilizer – it flashed a red light.

 _Damn it._ He watched as Arthur slowly turned around. Watched as he slowly raised a hand to the glass. Watched as he found himself transported back to Dudley's eleventh birthday.

The glass didn't disappear this time. The sharks weren't swimming off to the waters of Brazil. But the way they hovered there. The way more and more fish swam up to the glass, as if they were being summoned…as if they were forming ranks…as if it wasn't so much that the boy named Arthur was just communicating with them, but rather, _commanding_ them. He took a step forward.

"Arthur, what are you doing?"

He didn't take another step as he saw the teacher pull Arthur away.

"Disgraceful. Absolutely disgraceful!"

"But I didn't-"

"Bet quiet! I've had it up to here with you!"

He frowned – if there was anything worse than bullies, it was teachers who acted like them. Miss Livingstone had been one of the better teachers he'd had before Hogwarts, but that was a pretty low bar. Course, none of the teachers there had tried to murder him, or forced him to write with a quill that cut his flesh, or-

"Potter!"

He looked at Ackerby. He was smiling like a…well, shark.

"Found him," he said.

"Crackleback?"

"Yep. Nurse shark. Easy pickings. We can apparate him out and hardly anyone's going to notice because they're looking at their fellytones or the Great Whites or…" He trailed off, looking at the cracked glass, the muggle security guards, and all the other muggles trying to keep their distance. "What happened here?"

Harry didn't answer. Ackerby had distracted him, and when he looked into the crowd, Arthur and his school friends (using the broadest definition of "friends" he supposed) had moved on.

"Potter?"

"Magic," he said.

"Magic?"

"Magic." Harry looked at him. "Weird magic."

"Potter, I'm in an aquarium where there's these muggles taking self-me's with the fish. I need a better definition of 'weird.'"

"Just…weird," Harry said, before sighing. "Something to pass onto the Department of Education."

"Yeah, you do that." Ackerby tapped his left pocket. "Shall we?"

Harry nodded, wondering if he'd ever see Arthur again.

As it turned out, he would.

But not at Hogwarts.


End file.
